1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to means for supporting two-wheeled vehicles and more specifically to auxiliary means for use with the kickstand of such two-wheeled vehicles to aid in the supporting thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, various means for supporting two-wheeled vehicles have been developed. See, for example, Woodward (U.S. Pat. No. 523,952), Otto (U.S. Pat. No. 571,979), Hawkes (U.S. Pat. No. 602,134), Settle (U.S. Pat. No. 948,349), Pawsat (U.S. Pat. No. 2,074,422), Thompson (U.S. Pat. No. 2,308,794), Wood et al (U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,508), and Shipman et al (U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,640). None of the above patents disclose or suggest the present invention.
The known prior means for supporting two-wheeled vehicles perform substantially satisfactorily when the two-wheeled vehicle is a relatively lightweight bicycle or the like. However, when the two-wheeled vehicle is a relatively heavy motorcycle or the like, all the known prior means for support thereof have not performed satisfactorily. More specifically, heavy motorcycles require something more than standard kickstands when they are supported on anything but an absolutely nonyielding supporting surface such as concrete. When such heavy motorcycles are supported on a yielding supporting surface such as dirt, sand, asphalt or the like by use of a standard kickstand, oftentime the kickstand will sink into the supporting surface which may result in the motorcycle falling over, possibly damaging the motorcycle and/or injuring bystanders. Shipman et al discloses one method of overcoming this problem. In this method, a support plate is attached to the outer end of the kickstand to distribute the weight of the motorcycle being supported by the kickstand over a larger area of the supporting surface. However, a major disadvantage with such a method is that if the support plate is of an adequate size to safely support a motorcycle on a yielding supporting surface, it usually interferes with the operation of the motorcycle when the kickstand is in a stored position. Wood et al discloses a shoe for a bicycle kickstand which is pivotally mounted to the kickstand to allow the shoe to be aligned with the kickstand when the kickstand is in a stored position. However, such a shoe would not perform satisfactorily on a heavy motorcycle since it requires the end of the kickstand to be drilled out for allowing a pivot to pass therethrough which would unduly weaken the kickstand and result in possible failure of the kickstand when a heavy motorcycle is supported thereby and since it requires a manual effort to be pivoted back and forth which would result in the possibility of physical injury to the user when trying to manually pivot the shoe back and forth while holding a heavy motorcycle and while moving the kickstand between stored and in-use positions.